Lily Evans sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table and stared at him. She was trying to think of the exact moment she had realized her nuclear error, sometime earlier this year, when it had become evident that she was no longer in control of the thoughts running rampage in her own head. In fact, they were in control of her. It was suffocating. Every time she tried to regain independence, her head denied her pleas easily (not even to her surprise really, as it had a habit of being stubborn, just usually not against its owner) and let her sink deeper into the black hole that drew in everything in and out of sight. Admittance hadn't been easy. At first, she thought herself ill and confused, perhaps even cursed, but a self-brewed antidote for love potion had not tasted nearly as bitter as the revelation she had to admit to subsequently. Because, as it were, her head was completely obsessed with James Potter.

"OI, WORMTAIL, would you rather eat my snot after I've coughed up pumpkin juice out of my nose or get sorted into Hufflepuff?"

She had a disease.

"I'm not sure you can constitute the act as eating after you've snorted pumpkin juice…"

"So let me get this straight Padfoot, the issue here is that you'd rather drink snot than eat it."

"If I were given the choice between cutlery and a straw, I believe I'd go full aqueduct."

It must have been Christmas.

Just before break, the Marauders had bewitched the Great Hall so that the snow, which could be seen falling through the ceiling for the past few weeks, fell further down and halted only just before grazing the heads of Hogwart's cheerful students, with the occasional snowflake landing on a nose before melting away. The floor had been enchanted into a gigantic ice skating rink and the students had had difficulties in reaching their respective house tables for breakfast, but eventually had gotten used to sliding to their seats more or less gracefully. Lily had been so preoccupied with Charms for the Charmed (a book she had sworn to save for Christmas Break, but had already been halfway through by midday) that she had only noticed the change by the time she had been under the arc of the entrance to the Great Hall. She had slowly raised her eyes up from the pages to open her mouth in surprise at the ridiculous beauty that awaited her. Potter had been in the motion of fashioning a snowball by means of standing on the Gryffindor table and raising his hands above his head into the white whirling commotion just when he had spotted her across the hall and he had grinned widely, yet unsure.

"EVANS! I hope you don't mind a little holiday cheer?" he had yelled across the hall.

No one else had noticed his shouts, as everyone had been pre-occupied with slipping and sliding and laughing along the tables. Remus Lupin had been chasing Sirius Black along the Ravenclaw benches, the back of his neck covered in what looked like the remnants of a quite large snow ball. Black now slid along under the tables on his belly.

"How… what… when?" was all that had come out of Lily's mouth before she had burst into a short laugh at Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewitt dancing and sliding an emotional yet clumsy tango to her left, Frank with his wand in his mouth imitating a rose.

Grinning even wider, James Potter had stepped from the table and slid towards her gracefully, wearing a dark blue wool knit sweater with a large yellow circle on it. He had been rather handsome, the sweater bringing out the eyes that had watched her full of joy and the hat of snow that sat upon his messy black head of hair. Lily had cautiously stepped onto the ice-covered floor of the Great Hall, with her book under her arm and had attempted to motion Potter's smooth movements as he skated towards her. All of the sudden, he had mimicked the alarmed expression she had worn as her eyes grew wide and her mouth formed an "O" as she had speeded along the floor faster than she had intended to.

"Evans! Slow down! Try to steady yourself… no, try putting your toes together… No! Like this… no, see you have to...OOF!" She had miserably come crashing into him with her sad excuse for coordination, but his God-given Quidditch reflexes had acted fast and turned her around during their fall so that she had toppled down on top of him.

"Argh! Oh. Sorry, Potter! I hit you like a whale hits a seagull didn't I!?"

"Not quite as-" Lily had quickly tried to sit up before slipping again and crashing onto his large frame anew.

"Argh, sorry! I don't know what's wrong with me, I just can't seem to steady- Is that… is that a snitch on your jumper?" she had asked incredulously before she could help herself.

"Erm, well, my-"

"Wow, Potter, way to play it down."

"Well, actually-"

"I mean, if it weren't for the wings on the sides' one could assume it's just a picture of your head by the size of it, couldn't one?"

"My mum."

"Huh?"

"My mum knit it," James Potter had said awkwardly through gritted teeth as he showed great interest for a spot about two inches to the left of her head. Lily finally had successfully adjusted herself to sit on her knees and had instantly felt regret for the inconsiderate things she had just said to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn'-"

"That's okay. She knits one every year, but I never wore 'em before 'cause… erm… Obvious reasons?" he had smiled at her, his eyes twinkling as he sat up as well.

"Oh!"

"Yeah, but you know I figure, you never know how long anything will last, especially with everything that's happening outside of Hogwarts and with this already being our 6th year and all-"

"No, I totally get it, you don't have to explain! Sorry for being… I actually kind of like it, super fuzzy," at that moment she had become very aware of the hand patting the snitch's tummy, wait Potter's tummy, a hand that was in fact her own, and had pulled back quickly.

"Hah, yeah totally fuzzy, I'm telling you, I would wear only this and the socks that go with it if it weren't for school rules and everything," now he had become very conscious of what he was saying and turned a shade of beet while he had pulled her up to stand on the slippery ground.

"Right, well…," she had said embarrassed while still a bit wobbly on her feet.

"Erm… so you like it, eh?"

"Wha-"

"The hall! I meant the hall! Do you like what we've done with the Great Hall?"

"Oh! Oh yes, I LOVE it! Very festive, and… is that a snowman that looks like Peter or is Peter inside that snowman?" James turned around to discover what she was looking at. "You have to tell me what kind of charms you used to transform the ceiling like this. You must've figured out how the ceiling itself is enchanted! That is some seriously tricky magic. I really want a ceiling like that in my bedroom at home," he had smiled at her, surprised at her babbling away as she beamed up at him.

"Oh, I wish I could, top secret Marauder business you know," he had winked at her mischievously.

"What? Do you have some kind of contract with the Hogwarts' founders that you're sworn to secrecy?" she asked sarcastically, but he kept smiling at her.

"Something like that."

"Well then, if that's truly the case, I guess you'll just have to enchant my bedroom for me-"

"Absolutely."

Now Lily had been the one turning a vicious scarlet as she realized that she had just asked James Potter to her bedroom to enchant it of all things and he had instantly agreed. Apparently Potter had realized the conundrum as well and had opted for quickly changing the subject.

"Well, I hope your Christmas will be alright, Evans," he had said kindly while he had turned away to slide back to the Gryffindor table and she had just stood there watching his broad shoulders while in deep thought over what had just happened.

Yes, it had probably been Christmas when her head had first deceived her.